The God of Gamblers is one of the oldest movie franchises as it has been around since 1989. The series features some of the biggest stars in Hong Kong movies including legends like Donnie Yen and Tony Leung Ka Fai. The franchise has numerous sequels, unofficial spinoffs, official spinoffs, and original films. With how long it has been around and how many movies are included in the franchise, it is indeed a unique one. However, we are going to be focusing on the three main movies in the series and not the spinoffs, which deserve separate recognition.
The Original God of Gamblers (1989)
This is the first film in the franchise, and it is widely considered the best film Wong Jing ever made. The movie spans several genres including action, drama, and high comedy. After Ko Chun (Chow Yun Fat) gets into an accident, he is taken in by Knife (Andy Lau) after which Knife realises Ko Chun is a gambling savant. He decides to exploit this newfound friend by using his gambling prowess to win money.
The movie has some serious shifts in tone, with the movie making you laugh one minute from the hilarity that ensues and feeling sad the next. Ko Chun shines in this movie because he can traverse all these emotional and tonal shifts. He is also a great action actor, with his role allowing him to showcase his whole range of acting prowess.
The movie has great sequences, character chemistry and enough action to keep fans entertained. As you can tell from the name, this movie features a heavy casino theme, with card games heavily featured in the film. There is also a bit of card counting and contact lens shenanigans going on. Many of these card games are featured in the best online casinos including the Lucky Nugget casino as well as numerous other sites.
God of Gamblers 2 (1990)
Although this is an official sequel, it does not feature Chow Yun Fat. He is replaced by Stephen Chow whose comedic timing and performance manage to make this movie even funnier than the original. Andy Lau returns to play Knife and his combination with Stephen makes them get into various comedic situations. While this sequel does not have as much action as the first film, it has enough to keep audiences entertained. Audiences should not go into this movie expecting a blockbuster, but instead, they should expect lots of comedy and laughter peppered in with some amazing action sequences.
God of Gamblers 3: Back to Shanghai (1991)
This is a very different God of Gamblers movie because it features musical performances, extremely violent action sequences, time travel, doppelgängers and of course, lots of comedy. Sing is sent to Shanghai in the 1930s where he teams up with his uncle’s grandfather. He also befriends gang boss Ray Liu and starts a gang war.
The third act includes a gambling tournament, where Chow uses his magic to defeat the villains. This film is the last one in this franchise to feature this amazing actress and includes everything fans have come to love about the franchise.
Although the movies in the God of Gamblers franchise have a gambling aspect to them, they are essentially action-comedy films with different plots and premises. There are also spinoffs that you might need to watch to understand some material in the three films above, but you can enjoy them without having watched them.
